Kawakami: Warriors had to extend Andrew Bogut, even if they paid big

On a day Marcin Gortat was acquired as a "last piece" to Washington's supposed playoff lineup, it figured the Warriors would have to once and for all show Andrew Bogut the money for a three-year extension.

Centers don't come cheap and playoff-proven centers really, really, really don't come cheap. Believe me, Bogut wasn't going to sign for any lowball or even medium-ball amount. I heard three years, $30 million thrown out by several people and ... no, that was not going to do it.

So Bogut and the Warriors agreed to a three-year, $36 million extension through the 2016-17 season, with incentives that could take the deal above $40 million.

Golden State Warriors' Andrew Bogut dunks over San Antonio Spurs' Boris Diaw during the first half of Game 3 in their NBA second round playoff game at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Friday, May 10, 2013. ((Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)

Really, this is what the Warriors had to do -- they couldn't let Bogut hit the free-agent market next summer (or else that number could get crazy), and the best and perhaps only time to get it done before then was right now.

So they did it, with a base of $12 million per season. It's the correct number, and if Bogut plays well and often, that number should bounce up to $14M per or so. He's worth it.

The GSWs will be protected in some form if Bogut gets hurt again, but more importantly, the Warriors know they have Bogut to plug into the middle of their defense for this year plus three more.

And if they didn't have him, they'd be desperate for somebody like him and would A) either not have a real center or, B) would have to pay enormous money to a center who wouldn't be guaranteed to be as good for them as Bogut has been and will be.

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As team owner Joe Lacob put it when I asked recently: "He makes us much better and is a perfect fit for our style of play and the constitution of our team."

Now the Warriors have Bogut, Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala all locked up for this season plus three more, have Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes under control for several more seasons, and David Lee for this season plus two more.

They can hold them all, they can check and see what can be done on the trade market at any time, they can make several runs at this.

It's not cheap, and these deals will bump them above the salary-cap line (of course) and very near the luxury-tax threshold (or over), but this roster is talented enough to be worth it.

And the Warriors front office has proved it's nimble enough to adjust if things go awry, even with this amount of dollars involved.